Daily Comment on News and Issues of Interest to Michigan Lawyers

01/26/2014

Ethics And Avvo

UC Hastings legal ethics prof Richard Zitrin registers at the commercial lawyer search site Avvo and then ponders the ethical implications of interacting with the site in managing his profile. An excerpt from his piece at The Recorder:

Here's my concern: If an attorney "accepts" his or her profile, even if the lawyer must do so to correct published errors, that acceptance implies that the information in that profile may be relied on by the public as accurate. The problem comes not with the initial profile; that's easy enough to fix. But what about subsequent endorsements from other lawyers or former clients? Accepting the profile seems like a form of advertising, albeit passive without doing more, such as signing up for "Avvo Pro," answering proffered questions, or soliciting client comments. And what if a client wants to endorse you?

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Ethics And Avvo

UC Hastings legal ethics prof Richard Zitrin registers at the commercial lawyer search site Avvo and then ponders the ethical implications of interacting with the site in managing his profile. An excerpt from his piece at The Recorder:

Here's my concern: If an attorney "accepts" his or her profile, even if the lawyer must do so to correct published errors, that acceptance implies that the information in that profile may be relied on by the public as accurate. The problem comes not with the initial profile; that's easy enough to fix. But what about subsequent endorsements from other lawyers or former clients? Accepting the profile seems like a form of advertising, albeit passive without doing more, such as signing up for "Avvo Pro," answering proffered questions, or soliciting client comments. And what if a client wants to endorse you?